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Month: January 2016

Those out there that have something they have to contend with on a daily basis that’s not visible to the naked eye will understand the effects such a thing no matter how small has on them mentally, emotionally and physically. Mine is two very small pills called “Levo” that’s Levothyroxine for short, that still to this day I struggle to take.

Life before Levo` was great no real reason to worry about looking after my body too tough because as far as I was concerned I was living life, young and free. I could work long hours, dance all night, party with the girls non stop for 24 hours and keep going but my body had other plans. May dad did warn me on many occasions about burning the candle at both ends but no I knew best and I was going to do what I wanted do.

Until, 8 months of an illness unknown required blood test after blood test, examinations and lots of rest before I was any closer to finding out exactly what was wrong with me. Finally I found out what was really going on…….Overactive Thyroids you say….what….what does that even mean…what and where is your Thyroid gland anyway?? All the questions you’ll ask yourself whilst going through the motions and being fed all these random medical terms that mean absolutely nothing to you until you do that all important search on Google!

So your thyroid gland is in the front of your neck and until now who knew that the hormones that it produces controls every part of your body from your brain to your skin to your muscles, playing a crucial role in controlling how your body uses energy including how your heart beats to burning calories. Lord knows I have to work twice as hard to get rid of calories due to the affects that Levo has on me (emoticons would be really helpful right now, lol)….annoying, frustrating and extremely uncomfortable when you feel like you have tyres lined up inside your stomach when you sit down. Hell no, not for me, off to the gym I go 🙂

I can live with this, people live with much worse but these two bloody pills are the bane of my life and yet I can’t do nought about it. So two years pass and then the doctors says unfortunately at your young age you can’t continue to take Levo and a mix of other tablets long term without doing something else so you have a decision to make….wonderful, hit me with it. 1 Radioactive Iodine – are you crazy anything with the word “radioactive” in it can’t be right and the side affects, no thanks, next 2 Anti Thyroid medications – which will have more or less the same effect as my current medications but will be up and down, and the point of that is??, next 3 beta blockers – a class of drug used for those with heart failure or anxiety, what, no my gland just doesn’t produce enough hormones, next and last but not least surgery thyroidectomy…wonderful and of course this would be the one best for me to undertake at my age and will provide me with the best outcome. Asking all the correct questions I wanted to know step by step what was going to happen because all I have in my head is I’m going to have a big fat hole in my neck where they’re going to slice me in order to take this gland out, pfftttt!!

Surgery time is here and I’m nervous as hell but I have confidence in what I’ve been told. Its a common practice, many people have it, keyhole surgery nothing to worry about, you’ll be in hospital for about 2 days max…..ermmmm how wrong were they. Now don’t let me put you off as this is the best thing I could have done but at the time it seemed like a nightmare. I was in hospital for about a week as my calcium levels were low, I didn’t recover as quickly as most and all the things that I was told would happen, the complete opposite happened, sods law. This made me the most miserable, unsociable, non-communicating patient ever however I had a private room and an ipad to keep me company and I kept my door shut, I was far from interested in making friends with anyone i.e. nurse, doctor, cleaner who felt the need to come in to my room at the most ungodly hours….but I survived 🙂

Although my experience wasn’t the best I’ve learnt a lot about graves disease and how it truly affects your body. It’s extremely common and not as serious as some of those other deadly diseases out there but it can have a massive affect on ones body, emotions, hormones and mental state if not treated seriously. Get diagnosed and be sure to look for a long term option, if you know about Levothyroxine and your not taking it properly, be sure to, you’ll appreciate it in the long run.

Levo is my friend for life and without it I wouldn’t function properly!

Who am I…originally from Luton now residing in London, I have a great passion for dance and a travel enthusiast always planning for that next destination. Speaking of which, not long back from Oslo, next trip Amsterdam 🙂

Im here, because my boyfriend said I should do it…..and I’m glad I did. I gave in to my initial reservations for blogging in the first place i.e. What to write? How to write it? What will people think? Criticism? Exposing myself to the world! It’s great way of expressing yourself and connecting with at least one person in the world that might just relate and find your blogs an interesting read, I hope you will all enjoy.

I feel I’ve grown in confidence and what’s really to lose?! Travelling quite frequently it’s great to meet new people from all over the world, learning about different cultures, interacting with others. It would be great to possibly connect with others who have the same interests as I do. I’m intrigued by the possibilities of blogging publicly and what it can open up to.

I’d like to meet like minded people from all over the world, who love to travel, love to talk, those who can teach me something new and open my mind up to other things that I may never have thought about. I hope to bring variety to my blog posts to do with my life, my travels, reviews on places to eat, venues, photography and anything else that I feel to share.

It would be great to achieve a healthy following which I know will take time but would be a rewarding achievement, hopefully this course will help me get to that point. I also hope to learn how to blog effectively, how to make my blogs more interesting in my writing, more noticeable, learn from others who’ve been blogging for a while and hopefully make some new friends along the way 🙂